In recent years, in conjunction with the substantial improvement of data transmission capabilities, in portable telephones attempts are being made to use the portable telephone not only as a terminal for voice communications but to use it widely as a data communication terminal.
For example, as one form of use as the data communication terminal, an arrangement has been proposed and developed in which a camera is mounted in the portable telephone, and which is capable transmitting image data picked up by this camera in real time.
Meanwhile, with this data communication terminal, since various component parts such as a display, operation buttons, a microphone, a speaker, and an antenna must be accommodated efficiently in a limited narrow space, restrictions are similarly imposed on the place of installation of the camera as well.
Because of such circumstances, a data communication terminal with a camera is known which is arranged such that, for instance, a rectangular notched portion is provided in a side surface or an upper end surface of the data communication terminal, and a camera body is rotatably disposed in this notched portion. With such a data communication terminal with a camera, the arrangement provided is such that, by disposing the camera body rotatably, the orientation of the camera body can be adjusted to a desired direction, and the camera body can be also oriented in the direction of an operator himself or herself.
However, with the data communication terminal with a camera of the construction having such a rotating function, if the torque at the time of rotating the camera body is close to zero, there is a possibility that the camera body rotates slightly soon after the camera body is stopped after its orientation is adjusted to a desired direction. For this reason, since blurring occurs in the picked-up image, the user must effect shooting while holding the camera body with his or her fingers to avoid this, and the operability hence becomes extremely difficult.
Alternatively, if the torque at the time of rotating the camera body is extremely large, the camera body becomes difficult to rotate even if an attempt is made to adjust the orientation of the camera body to a desired direction. Therefore, there is a problem in that operability becomes difficult such as in that usability becomes poor.
Accordingly, in view of the above-described circumstances, the object of the present invention is to provide an information terminal apparatus with a camera having a rotating function which makes it possible to impart a predetermined torque to the camera body, makes it possible to stop the camera body continuously after being adjusted to a desired orientation, and makes it possible to rotate the camera body easily with the force of a finger.